Arnold Nadler

Businesses then and now

I remember being a kid, going to our local mom and pop corner store down the street from our house. The owner knew me by name, my parent’s, and where we lived.

Then

I remember being a kid, going to our local mom and pop corner store down the street from our house. The owner knew me by name, my parent’s, and where we lived. He would hire some students to deliver groceries to people after school, and in the summers to work in the store with him. He had a few full time people to help him, paid them enough to be able to live, and made them feel part of the family. The owner was a nice man, made his customers feel special regardless of their age, and even if a kid had only 25 cents to spend. He was smart enough to know that the kids would tell their parents about their trip to the store. People respected that he was a hardworking guy, trying to making a living for his family. In turn they would wanted to spend money in his establishment, even if something’s were a few cents more.

Now

Today for the most part the “Mom and Pop” corner store has been replaced by large corporations. We are greeted by employees who can’t make ends meet working full time, who really do not care about the customers, or providing the extra touches. Instead they are taught to annoy us anyway they can. Whatever we buy is never enough, and they have been trained to offer extra things most of us are not interested in. In business circles they call this “up selling”. If we do not have their company point cards or customer reward promotions, we are looked at funny. The only reasons we keep going back has to do with convenience, lack of time, or low pricing.

What has happened to make the change from then to know?

In my opinion, I would have to say business specialization. Back then businesses were more specialized in different fields. A grocery store was not a drug store, and a drug store was not a grocery store. Today we have traded small business for one stop shopping.

What can we do?

Believe it or not, there still happens to be communities left that have not caved into allowing large corporations to take them over. These places still believe that the backbone to a great economy is having their small businesses providing original products and services. We need to allow are communities to be distinct and original. The only way to do this is by not allowing corporate businesses to take over are society and helping small business people thrive.

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